Cornell’s publicist Brian Bunbury has called the death “sudden and unexpected” but at this stage not other details are known.

While he is best known for pioneering grunge band Soundgarden, Cornell also fronted Audioslave, featuring ex-members of Rage Against The Machine with him replacing Zack de la Rocha.

Cornell was a founding member of Soundgarden in Seattle in 1984. The band became a template for grunge along with Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Nirvana, three other bands from the same city. Of the four bands, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is the only lead singer of the four still alive.

Soundgarden had six studio albums, the first five between 1988 and 1996 and a reunion album ‘King Animal’ in 2012. Soundgarden’s iconic albums ‘Superunknown’ (1994) and ‘Down On The Upside’ (1996) both reached number one in Australia. ‘King Animal’ reached number 6.

Audioslave released three albums between 2002 and 2006. They all reached Top 10 in Australia and the USA.

One of the lesser known Cornell projects outside America is the rock masterpiece Temple of the Dog, a project Cornell and Eddie Vedder created as a tribute to Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Wood died in 1990 from a drug overdose.

The excellent one-off Temple of the Dog album was re-issued in 2016 for its 25th anniversary.